They would ask me what actors I saw in the roles. I would tell them, and they’d say “Oh that’s interesting.” And that would be the end of it.
--Elmore Leonard, in 2000, on the extent of his input for Hollywood's adaptation of his novels

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Trilby Kent's "Stones for my Father"

Trilby Kent studied History at Oxford University and Social Anthropology at the LSE. She has written for the Canadian and British national press and in 2010 was shortlisted in the Guardian's International Development Journalism Competition. She is the author of two novels for children (published in Canada and the U.S.) and one for adults (published in the U.K.) and is working on a PhD. She lives in London, England.

Her Stones for my Father follows 12-year-old Coraline Roux through the darkest days of the Anglo-Boer War: from the sacking of her family’s farm, to a trek across the battle-scarred Transvaal, to internment in a British concentration camp. Scattered throughout are moments of quiet beauty, including a figure of hope who emerges in the form of a Canadian soldier.

Here Kent shares some suggestions for casting an adaptation of Stones for my Father:

I think it would have to be an unknown actor to play Corlie Roux. A native Afrikaner, preferably (because the accent is so tricky to get right), with a realistic ‘look’ and a spark of raw talent. Ditto Corlie’s younger brother, Gert – perhaps someone like little Guy Witcher in The Power of One? – and her best friend, Sipho.

You’d need a really formidable actress to play Corlie’s mother. She’s a deeply flawed, cruel woman, but it would be pointless simply to depict her as an ogre. Tilda Swinton would be excellent – terrifying and fragile at the same time.

James McAvoy seems a natural fit for Corporal Byrne. And as he’s ‘done’ an American accent before, I’m sure a Canadian one wouldn’t be beyond him!

“Compared to a novel, a film is like an economy pizza where there are no olives, no ham, no anchovies, no mushrooms, and all you’ve got is the dough.”
--Louis de Bernières, author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin